2009 Trailblazer 4.2 "SS" Build, The Trailphoon

Here is the video of lowering it and throwing the new wheels and tires on. it looks WAYYY better now and rides great!

Here she sits after the suspension has settled. looks so much better lowered with SS wheels. 

Here is a video from friday night. We were fortunate enough to race a bone stock Buick Rainer which hs the same 4200 as the trailblazer. it was awd as well so it was a perfect comparison. This shows the difference that 9psi of boost makes over a stock 4200 in the quarter mile. 

This is a cool build to follow along. For a fully optioned SUV, it's really moving.
 

but what was up with that reaction time?

edit: Ruby is precious

This thing is sick.  What a great sorta sleeper and DD.

Nice work!

It sounds like you spend a bit of time getting to full boost after the launch in both your dragstrip and street videos. Is that because of the turbo sizing? Is it intentional?

Edit: awesome build BTW.

What did it run?

13.4 iirc.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Thanks! Ruby is the best! So I was more focused on a good launch more than a reaction time. So I sat there to get rpm up and play around with it being the first track passes. 

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

Thanks! It's a blast and in the grand scheme of things, people still don't know about this motor lol

In reply to MrJoshua :

It's mainly because of the stock converter. I have one I am eyeing now and it will wake it up. Also the 3.42 gearing doesn't help. 

surfshibby07 said:

In reply to MrJoshua :

It's mainly because of the stock converter. I have one I am eyeing now and it will wake it up. Also the 3.42 gearing doesn't help. 

How much higher are you thinking? How much does that affect daily driving?

In reply to MrJoshua :

the one im looking at is a 3200. i have no idea how it will affect daily driving. but im doing research prior to getting anything so i dont make a mistake lol

How much can the AWD sys take boost wise?

MrJoshua said:

surfshibby07 said:

In reply to MrJoshua :

It's mainly because of the stock converter. I have one I am eyeing now and it will wake it up. Also the 3.42 gearing doesn't help. 

How much higher are you thinking? How much does that affect daily driving?

Shouldn't even be noticeable. Only above 35-3700 stall would I be worried about lockup having problems.

In reply to 759NRNG :

I am not sure. but i have some parts im gathering to upgrade. the front diff from an SS and the rear end from an SS. also a transfer case which will be awd vs the 4wd i have in there now. so it will be full time awd in the near future. 

" also a transfer case which will be awd " My bad yours is a 2wd as it sits? Is Calvin ok with the 'smarttrac' transfer case? 

Nicest trailblazer ive ever seen, all the ones ive seen are fleet cars with the floor rusting out.

Latest update!

Here is a video of some of the issues I've had along the way.

Didn't have time to watch all the videos but love seeing it at the strip. 13.4 is moving! That transmission though.... I was holding my breath waiting for the 1-2 to complete. That's a looooong slippery shift. 

It's not totally relevant because no boost, no power, etc, but this is the kind of shift times I go for fiddling around with HPTuners/EFIlive. Lots of shift pressure, pretty aggressive torque reduction so it doesn't hammer and slide through it. Wish I had accel videos of my Z28 with 6 psi and a stock 4L60 with 3.42s - it shifted like this too after a bit of fiddling, and shifted a bit like yours before I got it sorted out.

3000ish stall is probably fine, but you'll notice the rubber band effect over the stock converter on the street. I only have a little experience with 4L60+turbo+converter as I sold that Z28 pretty quick, but it annoyed the hell out of me because I would give it a little more throttle, the revs would come up, it would start to build a touch of boost, and I'd have to let off again. Once the converter locked it was fine though, because the revs weren't moving all over the place.

 I think those are rated for something like 2500 stock and the V8 ones are 2200 if I remember right. I'm not quite sure how you're flashing so far past that, on the 13.4 pass it looked like you were at 3000 by the time you let off the brake and it was still climbing. 

In reply to gearheadE30 :

I am not sre either. but im running into an issue with a 3rd gear shift because of it. if i go too far past the rated stall of 2500ish, the ecu freaks out. if you watch the video the speedo wont work until i let off. this is because the transmission uses both vehicle speed and engine speed to determine shifting. when in drive not moving its already engaged in first and since 1-2 are on the same solenoid it will shift into second. but it wont shift 3rd if the speedo is not working ive noticed. so im forced to launch it softer or let out for a moment to allow the vss to catch up and get back in it. neither are good options for a good pass. SS guys were having this issue when they went to a higher stall and there is a work around on the older pcm but im not sure what it is for this ecu yet. 

Upgraded the stock rusty A-arms with some DJM A-arms. these also correct the negative camber the trailblazer suffers from when lowering it. 

Air to water intercooler added. it works extremely well!

How Much power do these make stock?

I'm trying to figure out if I can use the same turbski on my 3.9 v6 (250 hp and torque stock).

If so, what turbski did you use?